Club Brugge vs Aston Villa facts

Club Brugge will be the latest team to test Aston Villa's perfect start to their debut UEFA Champions League campaign at the Jan Breydelstadion on Matchday 4.

Villa are one of only two teams to have maximum points after three matches – Liverpool the other – and are still to concede a goal after wins at Young Boys (3-0) and at home to Bayern München (1-0 – the same scoreline as in the 1982 final between the clubs) and Bologna (2-0).

Club Brugge went down 0-3 at home to Borussia Dortmund on Matchday 1 and, though they won 1-0 at Sturm Graz in their next game, then lost 3-1 at AC Milan.

This is the teams' first meeting, and Villa's first game against a Belgian club since 1982.

Form guide

Club Brugge 

Record vs English clubs: W6 D5 L17 F27 A58
Home record vs English clubs: W6 D3 L4

Club Brugge's last games against an English club came in the 2021/22 group stage, when they lost 1-5 at home and 1-4 away against Manchester City.

That extended their winless run against Premier League opposition to 14 matches (D3 L11), since a 1-0 home victory against Chelsea in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals, a tie they lost 2-1 on aggregate. Club Brugge have conceded 14 goals in their last three matches against English clubs.

At home, Club Brugge won six of their first seven games against English visitors, drawing the other, but their record since beating Chelsea is D2 L4.

This is Club Brugge's 11th campaign in the Champions League proper – one short of Anderlecht's Belgian record.

The most recent came in 2022/23, the Belgian side claiming 11 points to finish second in Group B behind Porto and reach the knockout stages for the first time. Benfica proved too strong in the round of 16, however, winning 2-0 in Bruges and 5-1 in Lisbon.

Club Brugge have won three of their last 21 home matches in the Champions League proper (D6 L12).

European Cup runners-up to Liverpool in 1978, Club Brugge spent 2023/24 in the UEFA Europa Conference League, coming through three qualifying rounds before finishing first in their group. They went on to reach the semi-finals before losing 4-3 on aggregate to Fiorentina.

The Matchday 1 defeat by Dortmund ended Club Brugge's nine-match unbeaten home European run (W6 D3).

Champions of Belgium for the 19th time in 2023/24 – their fourth title in five years – Club Brugge appointed Nicky Hayen as their permanent head coach in June. He had succeeded Ronny Deila on a temporary basis in March, leading the club to their league success.

Aston Villa

Record vs Belgian clubs: W1 D1 L2 F2 A5
Away record vs Belgian clubs: W0 D1 L1

Villa have played only two ties against Belgian clubs, losing 1-5 on aggregate to Antwerp in the 1975/76 UEFA Cup first round (1-4 a, 0-1 h) but beating Anderlecht 1-0 in the semi-finals of their victorious 1981/82 European Cup campaign (1-0 h, 0-0 a).

This is Villa's first Champions League campaign – they are the 11th English club to feature in the competition proper.

Villa are taking part in the European Cup for the third time overall, and a first since 1982/83, when they lost 5-2 on aggregate to eventual runners-up Juventus in the quarter-finals (1-2 h, 1-3 a).

That ended their defence of the trophy they had claimed with a 1-0 win against Bayern in the 1982 final in Rotterdam, Peter Withe scoring the only goal in the second half.

The Villans were involved in European competition for the first time since 2010/11 in 2023/24, Unai Emery's team reaching the Europa Conference League semi-finals before being eliminated by eventual champions Olympiacos (2-4 h, 0-2 a).

This season's Matchday 1 win at Young Boys was only Villa's third in their last 12 UEFA away matches, a run that includes six defeats.

Emery guided Villa to fourth place in the Premier League in 2023/24 – their highest finish since 1995/96, when they were also fourth.

Villa are one of five clubs making their Champions League debuts in 2024/25, along with Brest, Bologna, Girona and Slovan Bratislava.

Links and trivia

Have played in Belgium:
Youri Tielemans (Anderlecht 2002–17)
Amadou Onana (Anderlecht youth 2013–15, RWS Bruxelles youth 2015/16, Zulte Waregem youth 2016/17)
Leon Bailey (Genk 2015–17)

Have played in England:
Simon Mignolet (Sunderland 2010–13, Liverpool 2013–19)
Tristan van den Heuvel (Leeds 2020–24)
Christos Tzolis (Norwich 2021–22)

Mignolet was an unused substitute in Liverpool's Champions League final win in 2019, having also been on the bench for their defeat the previous year; he did play 90 minutes of their 3-1 loss to Sevilla in the 2016 UEFA Europa League final.

Latest news

Club Brugge

Club Brugge have won four of their last five games in all competitions, beating Anderlecht 2-1 at home on 27 October and winning 1-0 at OH Leuven in the league on Saturday.

On 30 October they were 6-1 victors against third division Belisia Bilzen in the last 32 of the Belgian Cup.

The Matchday 3 defeat at Milan is Club Brugge's only loss in their last eight games in all competitions (W5 D2).

Nicky Hayen's side lost two of their first three league games this season (D1) but have suffered only one defeat in the last ten (W7 D2).

Gustaf Nilsson was out with a calf injury between 27 September and 30 October, scoring five minutes after coming on in his return against Belisia Bilzen, but sat out the weekend win.

Bjorn Meijer has come on in the last two games, his first appearances of the season after knee surgery in May.

Aston Villa

Villa have won five of their first ten Premier League games (D3 L2). On Sunday they went down 4-1 at Tottenham despite Morgan Rogers giving them a first-half lead.

Ollie Watkins is Villa's top league scorer this season on five, one more than Jhon Durán – whose four have all come as a substitute – with Rogers on three.

Durán has eight goals in all competitions, three more than Watkins.

A Durán goal was not enough to prevent Villa losing 1-2 at home to Crystal Palace in the League Cup last 16 on 30 October.

Tyrone Mings started that game having been out since 12 August 2023 with a knee injury.

Boubacar Kamara was a late substitute in a 1-1 home draw against Bournemouth on 26 October, his first appearance since suffering a knee injury on 11 February, before starting against Palace.

Ross Barkley missed the weekend defeat with a minor injury that is expected to rule him out for two weeks.

On 28 October Emiliano Martínez collected the Yashin trophy, awarded to the world's best goalkeeper, for the second year running at the Ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris.